Vehicle-wheel rim.



No. 658,487. Pa tented Sept. 25, I900.

A. w. KENT,

VEHICLE WHEEL RIM.

(Application filed Sept. 18, 1899.)

(No Model.)

WITNESSES.-

Nrrnn STATES.

ATENT OFFICE.

VEHICLE-WHEEL RIM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 658,487, datedSeptember 25, 1900.

Application filed September 18, 1899. Serial No. 730,815. (No model.)

pose being to lighten, stiffen, and strengthen the rim and provideagainst cutting the elastic tire along the line of contact with theedges of the wheel-rim.

My improvement is embodied in a metal wheel-rim having a concaveperipheral face with a succession of hollow bosses depressed in suchconcave face and protruding correspondingly on the convex face or innerside of such rim, each boss being open centrally through the metal toadmit the nipple which connects the rim to the spoke of the wheel.

My improved wheel-rim is formed with a slight outward trough-likedepression along each of its margins, each provided with astrip of feltor other yielding material secured in place and extending to or slightlybeyond the edge of the rim, preferably slightly overlapping it, so as toconstitute a cushion interposed between the rim and the elastic tire andserving to greatly relieve the wear upon the tire along these lines ofpressure. The formation of these bosses and marginal troughs serves'tostiffen the wheel-rim and enable it the better to withstand the strainof use, at the same time permitting the use of lighter metal, thuslessening the weight of the wheel to an appreciable extent. The hollowbosses struck up and open through the rim along each side of its centralline retain the full strength and preserve the skin or outer surface ofthe metal, thereby increasing the endurance of the metal at a pointwhere the particular strain comes and contrasting favorably with theordinary practice of countersinking holes through the metal, whereby therim is much weakened with no compensating advantage, the metal beingbrought to a feather-edge and its toughest part cut away, so that thenipple-heads pull through.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of a portion of my improvedwheel-rim, showing its concave face. Fig. 2 is an edge view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the same; andFigp 4 a transverse sectionthrough the rim and a rubber tire, showing the relation of the parts toeach other.

A represents the metal rim, and B the series of bosses struck up in andthrough the concav= ity of the rim in a zigzag line and having walls ofsubstantially uniform thickness corre-- sponding with other portions ofthe rim. Into these hollow bosses the head O of the connect ing nippleis received, being sunken therein, so as not to press unduly upon theadjacent portion of the rubber tire. The thickness of the bosses beinguniform, the full strength of the metal is retained, and the Wheelhaving .a rim formed under this construction is materially strengthenedand stiffened.

D D are depressions or longitudinal troughs along the edges of the rim,formed by bending the metal somewhat outwardly along a line parallelwith each edge to a distance about equal to the thickness of the metaland continuing thence upwardly on about the same curve as before, thusforming an ofiset or strengthening-bead which materially stifiens therim, at the same time providing a seat along each edge for the yieldingcushion E. These cushions E are preferably strips of .firm felt or ofvulcanized rubber having a backing of cotton-duck and are cemented orotherwise secured in the trough, so as to slightly overlap the edges ofthe rim and prevent them from cutting the elastic tire.

It will be seen that my improved rim is braced and stiifened at itsedges by the beads or troughs D and along its center by the successionof bosses B, the thiokwalls of which stand oblique to the lines ofstrain or pressure.

I claim as my invention 1. The described improvement in vehiclewheels,consisting in a metallic wheelrim formed complete of a single piecehaving a concave peripheral face and at each side of its central line, aseries of hollow struck-up bosses arranged in a zigzag line, and havingwalls of equal thickness with the rim, forming depressions in itsconcave face and corresponding protuberances on its convex face, opencentrally to receive and form seats for the heads of the spoke-nipples,substantially as set forth.

2. The described improvement in wheelrims, consisting in the annularmetallic body A having a concave peripheral face with marginaltrough-like seats D offset along its edges leaving the metal of uniformthickness throughout, and yielding cushion-strips E of uniform thicknesssecured in such seats and Overlapping the edges of the rim,substantially as set forth.

3. The improved wheel-rim described, having the metallic body Aperipherally concave, formed with a succession of open, hollow, 1struck-up bosses B, having walls of the full thickness of the metalprotruding on theinner face of the rim, the axes of such bosses beingoblique to the plane of the wheel and alternately reversed, such rimbeing formed with marginal seats D D ofiset about the thickness of themetal and extending outwardly in a line parallel with the transversecurvature of the rim, and provided with yielding cushionstrips E securedin said seats, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my sig nature in presence of twoWitnesses.

ALEXANDER W. KENT.

Witnesses:

A. H. SPENCER, CHARLES F. LOGAN.

